Every fifteenth Polish doctor may be addicted to alcohol, drugs or medicines, claims Wlodzimierz Kasiarski, an addiction therapist. 

“Alcoholism and drug addiction is a far more serious problem among doctors in Poland than we think,” says Kasiarski, an alcoholic himself who quit 24 years ago. “People who are aware of the problem pretend that it does not exist until a tragedy happens,” Kasiarski told the TVN 24 news station. 

Kasiarski’s claim comes after a report on Friday of a drunken doctor from the southern town of Tarnowskie Gory who cut a baby’s cheek while performing a Caesarean section. The woman, with 33 years of experience as a gynecologist, had almost one per mill of alcohol in blood.

“She may be charged with putting the baby’s life in danger or causing injury,” says Anna Szymocha from the Prosecutor’s Office in Tarnowskie Gory. (mg)